Much has changed since BYU played UCLA

Much has changed since then-No. 13 UCLA defeated BYU, 27-17, at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 8.

As the two teams prepare to meet again Saturday at the Las Vegas Bowl, it's the No. 19 Cougars (10-2) who are nationally ranked. The Bruins (6-6), meanwhile, finished the season with a mediocre record.

Both teams lost the week after playing each other. UCLA got blasted at Utah, 44-6, and BYU fell at Tulsa, 55-47. The Bruins started 4-1, then lost five of their last seven games, resulting in the firing of coach Karl Dorrell.

The Cougars haven't lost since that Tulsa setback, ending the regular season with a nine-game winning streak and claiming an undefeated, outright Mountain West Conference championship.

Leading the Bruins into the Las Vegas Bowl is defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, who assumed interim coaching responsibilities.

And yet, some things have remained the same.

After experiencing a turbulent year at the quarterback position, the original starter, Ben Olson, who redshirted at BYU in 2002 before serving a mission and transferring to UCLA, is expected to start against the Cougars. Olson completed only 13 of 28 passes for 126 yards and an interception in the first meeting between the two teams. Olson injured his knee Oct. 6 in the Bruins' embarrassing home loss to then-winless Notre Dame.

Patrick Cowan, third-string walk-on McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Osaar Rasshan — who converted back to QB after switching to wide receiver last summer — have also taken a significant number of snaps for UCLA this season.

Olson replaced Rasshan in the second half of UCLA's 16-0 win over Oregon on Nov. 24. He also played in the waning minutes of the Bruins' 24-7 loss to USC in the regular-season finale when Cowan suffered a knee injury.

This season, Olson completed 71 of 147 passes for 1,040 yards, six interceptions and seven touchdowns in seven games, which included five starts.

"They're pretty much exactly the same offense since we played them. They haven't changed anything," said Cougar linebacker Kelly Poppinga. "The only thing they've changed is they've flip-flopped their quarterbacks since then."

The Bruins lost running back Kahlil Bell to a season-ending knee injury in October. He had rushed for 795 yards before the injury.

"That's been a disappointment for them to lose (Bell), because he's pretty good, but the other guys have stepped in and played well," Poppinga said.

Chris Markey, who has been slowed by injuries, gained 598 yards on the ground. Brandon Breazell leads UCLA in receiving, having caught 47 passes for 766 yards and three touchdowns.